Bloodflower

by K. J. Harrowick

  “Even as an otter, they’ll track your heat signature and know I’m not alone,” she muttered.

  Braygen leapt off her shoulder and melted together into his human form. “How many men do you think he has?”

  “At least thirty, unless he crammed the ship full of Enforcers, then maybe a hundred. Kill the pilots, and I’ll unleash the Flame on everyone else. If I have to, I’ll rip that hull apart like I did in Nelórath.” The Flame surged in her veins, but she had to hold it in just a little longer.

  Lifting her hands in surrender, she stepped out of the brush as the back door to the cargo bay lowered. One of Braygen’s otters clung to her back, masking itself behind her heat as the metal ramp thumped to the ground.

  Jàden’s heart pounded so hard she thought she might suffer a heart attack before she ever laid eyes on Jon again.

  She stepped onto the ramp, only able to see the bay’s ceiling from her lower vantage point.

  With each step, a little more came into view. Frank had installed more than a dozen glass cages, and it sent a shudder down her spine.

  Braygen climbed to her neck and scurried under her shirt.

  “The fuck are you doing?” she muttered.

  Black figures melted out of the foliage, aiming their rifles at her as they boxed her in.

  But her gaze found Jon, and panic tightened her chest. “Jon!”

  He whipped his head around, shouting something and waving her back. The distress in his eyes mirrored her own as she bolted across the threshold into the bay.

  The Flame disappeared from her veins.

  “Oh, shit,” she said. Frank had set the ship up as a barrier to her power. Electricity buzzed along her skin. “Go, Braygen.”

  As he slipped down her leg, she tried to bolt back outside, but several shots zipped by her head.

  “Careful, darlin’. No turning back this time,” Frank said over the loudspeaker.

  She halted on the edge between the bay and the ramp, the armored Enforcers closing in. She tried again to step outside the barrier, and several shots barely missed her feet.

  Fuck.

  They’d shoot her if she tried to leave. And she wasn’t sure the Flame’s power would be faster than their shots.

  I’ll teach you to fight, Jon had told her the day she accidentally woke Frank from hypersleep. In return, I’ll help you find Kale.

  She’d found his bunker but not him.

  Jon was all she had now, and as the tears burned in her eyes, she knew there was only one way out of this. Unite the Flames, unleash Jon and hope that Braygen disabled the pilots and kept the ship grounded.

  Bolting from the edge to the cages, she ignored Éli and pressed her hand against Jon’s release panel. It buzzed red.

  Jon’s soil-brown eyes found hers as he tried to say something to her.

  But she couldn’t hear him through the barrier.

  She pressed her hand to the glass, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

  He looked torn between fury and worry. He gestured silently to her, and this time she understood the meaning. Fight!

  “Get this ship in the air.” Frank’s voice and a whisper of wind on the back of her neck alerted her to danger as all the training with Thomas crashed into her.

  Jàden dropped to the ground and unsheathed her dagger, slamming it into Frank’s leg. She tried to roll away.

  But Frank yanked her off the ground and slammed her face against the glass. “Do you know what a fucking pain in the ass you’ve been?”

  She cried out as his fingers dug into her. Before she could answer, he pulled back and slammed her again.

  Pain lanced through her skull.

  Jon relentlessly threw his body against the barrier, murder in his eyes. Even Éli tried to claw his way out of an adjacent cage as rage tightened his features.

  Jàden would have given anything to hear their fury, but someone had shut off the sound, leaving her with silence and Frank’s heavy breath. She grabbed his waist, hoping to find a holstered gun.

  But as soon as her fingers brushed steel, Frank twisted her arm painfully behind her back.

  “My son went mad knowing how much you screamed and begged for him once.”

  The bay door shut. Overhead lights flooded on as Frank pressed against her, his eyes pinned on Jon.

  “Medic,” a women shouted and dropped beside Frank. “Get in here. Boss is injured.”

  Frank’s taunting voice was back as he rubbed his beard along her cheek. “This time I’m going to bolt you to a chair and make you watch as I rip him apart, piece by piece.

  “Please, no,” she whispered, her cheek against the glass wet with tears. “You have me. Let Kale go.”

  Jon had stopped trying to rip down the glass and stood still as a statue in her line of sight, one hand pressed where her cheek touched the glass, the other held up two fingers and mouthed, “Never stop fighting.”

  Two fingers, two rules.

  Frank yanked her away from the glass so she could no longer see Jon and shoved her down the aisle. “The last sound you’ll ever hear is his screams.”

  She wasn’t sure if he was talking about Jon or Kale, but she repeated Jon’s rules in her head.

  Stay alive. Everything is a weapon.

  Jàden spied the panel on the next cage and the open door. The ship’s engines ignited, the floor rumbling through pre-flight as the sound grew louder. Shaking her head, she tried to backpedal, but Frank grabbed her neck.

  “I won’t go back!” Never stop fighting.

  She leaned against Frank and kicked her legs to either side of the door, propelling them both backwards until they slammed against the cages on the other side.

  Courage cannot awaken without fear.

  She unholstered Frank’s gun and fired at the panel near Jon’s cage to fry the circuits.

  “You little bitch.” Frank stripped the gun and threw her toward the open door. “I swear to—”

  Jon crashed into Frank, the gun clattering to the ground.

  Pain lanced through her shoulder, and she scrambled toward the door as gunfire blasted down the aisle. Jàden pulled back, hesitating for a moment, then dove for the gun and rolled to her side, firing toward the gunman. They wouldn’t dare kill her if they knew Frank like she did.

  “Lock down the bay,” a woman shouted into the overhead speakers.

  Jàden stumbled to her feet and hastened toward Éli’s cage, shooting the control panel until the glass slid open.

  He bolted across the aisle and slammed her against the glass, pressing his mouth to hers. “You’re mine. Don’t forget that, wife.”

  CHAPTER 56

  Shadowrunner

  Jon grabbed Frank by the throat and shoved him against the wall. Rage burned in the deepest part of his soul. “Don’t you ever fucking touch my wife.”

  The butt of a rifle slammed into the back of his head. Pain and nausea gripped him as Frank slipped out of his hands.

  “No! Let me go!” Jàden’s high-pitched scream grabbed his attention.

  Éli had her pinned.

  That fucking traitor. Jon was going to kill him too, but Éli unsheathed the sword at Jàden’s back and stalked toward a knot of armored figures as Jàden fired at them.

  Air whispered across the back of his neck.

  Jon ducked another blow, ignoring the hollow emptiness inside him. Jàden had ripped her magic out of him again, but he didn’t know how.

  As Jon turned around, Frank’s shoulder slammed into his gut, and they both hit the ground. Something roared louder and the ground vibrated. But Jon drove his elbow into Frank’s shoulder. The bastard was strong as an ox and nearly as fast as Éli.

  Letting go of all other thoughts, Jon tried to pull the captain back into himself as they rolled across the ground, Frank wrapping an arm around his neck.

  “Don’t think for a second I won’t kill you.” Frank’s arm tightened.

 
; Jon gasped for air and bucked his hips, slamming down onto Frank and ripping the dagger out of his leg.

  Releasing his hold, Frank kicked him off and rolled away as he drove the knife into the waffled metal. “Come on, boy. Fight!”

  Still clutching the dagger, Jon rolled to his feet, every muscle screaming in pain from Éli’s earlier beating. Only his training and adrenaline kept him moving.

  But at least for the moment, Éli’s power wasn’t suffocating him.

  “Someone get this beast in the air.” Frank charged him again.

  Jon tried to drive the knife into Frank’s gut, but the bastard blocked him and knocked the weapon away.

  Instead, he cracked his elbow into Frank’s nose.

  “Pre-flight almost done, General,” a woman’s voice said over the air. “We’ve got a small prob—”

  The voice cut out as Jon threw Frank into the glass, the black-armored figures like shadows on the far side of the cage walls. They were fanning out, and even if he killed Frank, they’d likely gun him down.

  “Éli,” Jon yelled, “kill those fuckers!”

  Frank punched him hard across the jaw, and Jon reeled backwards, holding his chin through blinding pain. He tried to stand up, but Frank punched him again, this time blurring his vision.

  Doubling over, Jon shook his head to clear the grogginess, but another hit dropped him flat on his back.

  Frank put a foot on Jon’s chest and pointed a longer weapon at his head. “You move and I will make that bitch bathe in your guts.”

  Jon couldn’t move a muscle through the pain. He spat blood as his chest tightened. “Kill me, and she dies too.”

  CHAPTER 57

  Shadowrunner

  Jàden couldn’t shoot without hitting Jon as the two men slammed back and forth across the aisle between cages. She panicked about who to protect—Jon or Éli. One’s death could kill the other, and without the Flame, she couldn’t rip the ship apart.

  As the engines grew louder, she had her answer.

  If this ship got off the ground, they were all done for. Bradshaw would be waiting to put them on lockdown. But on the ground, they had a chance to fight their way out, no matter how slim.

  She slipped in the narrow gap between cages and ducked low, inching toward the far side and trying not to be seen. Shadows moved beyond glass walls. She held her gun pointed in one direction, her dagger in the other.

  Braygen should have had those pilots taken care of, but by the sound of the engines, they’d be in the air any minute.

  At the far edge between two cages, she peeked out.

  Half a dozen figures bunched together at one corner, their rifles aimed and ready to fire. They had to be hunting Éli.

  “Pre-flight almost done, General,” a pilot said over the loudspeaker.

  Jàden glanced the other way, and several figures slipped between the cage walls like her. She held perfectly still, waiting for them to disappear. When only two were left, she spied the corridor to the cockpit open behind them.

  When their attention was drawn by Frank’s angry shouts, she slipped out and fired toward the knot of soldiers stalking Éli.

  Two hit the ground, and she crouched again in her hidey-hole.

  The rest turned and opened fire, killing the Enforcers guarding the corridor.

  Once the gunfire stopped, Jàden bolted from her hiding spot.

  They fired intentionally over her head, but she refused to stop. She dove into the corridor and dodged to the side, palming the door closed.

  “Braygen!” she yelled.

  The ship started to lift then bumped to the ground, the engines winding down.

  “In here!” he called.

  She raced down the corridor, but the door between them slid shut.

  Jàden palmed the pad then slapped the door. “Braygen?”

  Whatever he said came back muffled from the other side. The door at the far end slid open.

  Frank stepped into the doorway, the blood-bound sword in one hand, a gun in the other. He palmed the door closed, his mouth curling into a sinister grin. “Take her out, Doc.”

  White hot needles seared into her skin from the top of her head down to her toes. Jàden screamed as the familiar, agonizing pain dug deep into her eyes and bones. She clenched her fists, fighting the invisible torture as she slid to the ground.

  Frank crouched beside her and patted her cheek. “That’s a good girl. You and I are gonna be together a long time.”

  He tugged aside her collar, his finger sliding under the chain on her neck until the bloodflower spilled out of her bodice. “I don’t fucking believe it.”

  Jàden clawed at her skin as he ripped the key off her neck. Silently begging the anguish to stop, she tried to grab the bloodflower, but her fingers curled inward like a seizure.

  Frank swung the bloodflower back and forth in front of her like a pendulum. “A gate key? You were worth the wait, darlin’.”

  The steel door to the bay slid open.

  Hard lines tightened Jon’s features, his wild eyes filled with rage. A deep cut bled along his temple. He slammed his fist into Frank’s jaw with a dagger clutched in his hand.

  Frank’s cheek ripped open as the dagger slid out of Jon’s grasp and slammed into the wall as if magnetized.

  The tension released, and Jàden fell over, breathing deep as the last aches faded. After two years of suffering, she hated that pain more than anything.

  The door retracted.

  She scurried toward the opening, smacking her hand on the lightpad. The hatch sealed again. With Bradshaw controlling the door, she and Jon were trapped.

  Jon crashed against the cockpit door, blood trickling down his face.

  Jàden charged Frank, bouncing off his broad back and hitting the ground.

  He whipped around.

  She scrambled to her feet and kicked him in the balls then slammed his nose against her knee. “Don’t you fucking touch him.”

  Blood streaked Frank’s cheek, dripping into his beard from a deep cut. His mouth curled into a vicious grin. He grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall before clutching her neck.

  Stars burst in front of her eyes. The gun and sword were stuck to the ceiling, Jon’s dagger to the wall. Bradshaw must have magnetized everything, forcing her and Jon to fight Frank with no weapons.

  “You and my son are never gonna be together.” Frank clasped her tight and dug his fingers into her skin, hatred bleeding into his tone. “I’m going to stick him in a cage next to yours, and you’ll watch him starve, wasting away to dust and bone.”

  Jon stumbled toward her, blood dripping for at least a dozen wounds.

  But Frank snapped his fingers and silently ordered him back, his grip tighter on her neck.

  “You’re wrong,” she said.

  A gentle domp, domp whispered alongside her heart as a bit of wrapping fell loose from Mather’s blade, dangling next to Jon’s shoulder. He reached up to grab the hilt, barely wedging his fingers to hold the weapon in place.

  His words, burning with Mather’s grief, ripped through her mind. Every man who stands between me and Éli Hareth will feel the sting of this blade.

  Jàden spat blood in Frank’s face.

  She slammed her fist into his chest, right where she’d shot him weeks ago.

  “This is for Kale.” She threw her back against the door and kicked his chest.

  Frank flew backward, his head cracking into the tip of Jon’s blade, his eyes wide and his arms dangling to his side. Blood leaked around the curve in his neck.

  He didn’t move again.

  “Jon.” Jàden rushed toward him, embracing him tight as tears streamed down her cheeks.

  He clutched her, burying his head in her neck. “Oh, baby. I thought I’d lost you.”

  The walls demagnetized, and Frank’s body hit the ground.

  The door to the cockpit slid open.

  “Holy fuck, was that
a good fight.” Braygen stood over two dead pilots, a headset over his ear. Wires dangled from an open console panel. “Hang on. Trying to get control back.”

  Jàden grabbed Jon’s cheeks, his beard prickling her fingertips despite his blood. “Did you bond Éli yet?”

  Jon pressed his mouth against hers and pushed her against the door to the bay. He deepened the kiss then pulled back enough that his mouth still brushed hers. “Baby, I’m Kale.”

  “Wha—”

  Before she could say anything else, he pulled her into another deep kiss.

  Jàden held him tight as his words slowly unfolded in her head. She pushed him back. “Wait, you’re Kale? But that’s impossible.”

  All the pieces clicked into place. From Frank threatening her on the Darius to the beacon towers to Braygen at her side.

  “On the Darius, Frank was going to shoot you,” she said.

  “But you turned the gun on yourself.” He slid his hand onto her cheek. “You saved me that day—”

  She clutched him tight, a sob threatening to break loose from her throat. “I found you.”

  His jaw stubble prickled her cheek. She slid one hand into his hair and pulled him tight against her. Jon was the strength she’d craved, the other piece of her heart. But she’d wanted to save him from this nightmare, and it wasn’t yet over.

  “I have to get us out of here.” Jàden palmed the pad to the bay.

  The lights went out.

  “No.” She palmed the pad again as her feet drifted off the ground, the anti-gravity generators kicking on. “Bradshaw, turn the power back on.”

  She nudged Jon aside and pushed off against the door, floating down the corridor toward the cockpit. Shoving in beside Braygen, she brought up the HUD display, and the front blast panel shifted to transparent glass.

  “Dammit!” Jàden slapped the console, pressing buttons and trying to turn the primary power on. Her mind turned as she tried to think of everything Kale had ever taught her.